Southerners’ Colorguard Coordinator Rodney Bailey was once asked what it was that made the Southerners different. He replied, “We give you art. And we give you heart.” It is in this spirit that the Marching Southerners are proud to present their 2024 production, JOY, a musical and visual celebration of music’s ability to provide unity to the divided, comfort to the hurting…and healing to the broken. 

The production begins with Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s Vitae Aeternum (Eternal Life). Inspiring melodies, soaring woodwinds, and sizzling brass moments provide the soundtrack to the joy that is found in the gift of life we have been given…a gift to be simple. A gift to be free. 

JOY continues as the Ballerinas take center stage with Jackie Wilson’s classic (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Soloists, section features, and show-stopping choreography set the stage for a glimpse of just how high we can soar when love gives us wings. 

Life is hard. Pain is real. But there is joy to be found in the journey when we realize we never have to go through life alone. Justin Paul and Benji Pasek’s You Will Be Found is presented in a “new school” Southerners ballad that reminds us that if we’ll only look around…the sun is streaming through the darkness…and we will be found. 

The 2024 production concludes with the Finale from James Barnes’ Third Symphony. Written to represent the joy that comes after sadness, this staple of the wind band repertoire is brought to the marching field in powerful and exuberant fashion. After a percussion feature, JOY concludes with a “kitchen sink” epilogue of various timeless themes woven into the Finale from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. 

Music is a powerful force. It takes us to places we could never go. It comforts. It connects. It heals. As they’ve done for over 60 years, the Southerners do, indeed, give you art and heart. And in 2024…they give you… JOY.